The Indian government has been pursuing an expansion of higher education facilities and has also determined that links with foreign universities are a priority. In this backdrop, University of Southampton, a leading UK teaching and research institution, is exploring academic and research collaborations with institutes like IIT-Kharagpur and IISER-Pune. With over 22,000 students, around 5,000 staff, and an annual turnover of almost £400 million, the University of Southampton is one of UK’s biggest institutions for engineering, computer science and medicine. Alistair Fitt, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Southampton, had a teleconference with Pradipta Mukherjee on its India plans. Edited excerpts:
What kind of collaborations are you looking at?
We are looking at collaborations with technical institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) for research in areas across a wide range of subjects in engineering, science, social sciences, health, arts and humanities. We have collaborations with IIT Madras, Bombay and Roorkee.
Are you looking at student and faculty exchange programmes with Indian technology institutes?
Absolutely. Already we have 230 Indian students studying with us in UK. We are also looking at one-to-one research collaborations.
Who funds these research collaborations?
All our collaborations in India are jointly funded by the British Council, England, and the government of India. Indian research findings are some of the best in the world, reason why we are keen on increasing our partnerships here.
What needs to be done to improve research and development in India?
Considering the size of India, there are very few IITs and IISERs. Although the Indian government is setting up more such institutes, it is still not adequate. Also, India does not have any research ranking and assessment exercise. In UK, research rankings are directly related to funding which works as a motivation for all researchers to constantly innovate something different and unique. There should be similar incentives for Indian researchers also.
Please elaborate on your future collaborations.
Philip Wilson, who is the professor of Ship Dynamics in the School of Engineering at the University of Southampton (UK), visited IIT Kharagpur to discuss collaborations between the Thai Royal Navy, IIT Kharagpur and Southampton. The primary reason for this visit was to explore the research efforts of the IIT in Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.
We also aim to explore the idea of at least one of the IIT students going to the UK on an internship to study the effects of underwater docking stations. The work that is currently underway at the University of Southampton with its AUTOSUB allows for a fruitful exchange of ideas and a possible future exchange of research staff. The driving vision for the AUTOSUB programme at the University has been to provide marine scientists with the tools to probe the most challenging environments.
Autosub6000, the latest member of the Autosub family of vehicles, is now a proven Deep Ocean Geological and Geophysical Instrumented Explorer. With three engineering trials completed, and information gathered using its swath bathymetry and other sensors already published, Autosub6000 will underpin a science cruise to the Cayman Rise in March 2010. An internship at the University at this point in time would provide great exposure and first-hand experience to the selected IIT student.
